Living on a small holding in rural Alberta, raising kids and animals, growing stuff, creating things with fibre, and living with PTSD.
See more at www.applejackcreek.com.

17 July 2008

Knitters Without Borders

If you are a yarn and fibre nutcase like I am, you surely know who Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is ... the Yarn Harlot. She has an awesome blog, is a published author, and goes about introducing people to the wonder and joy of knitting socks.

What on earth are Knitters Without Borders? Well, Stephanie says it better than I possibly could:

By any North American standard, I am not a wealthy woman. Still, there has never been a day that I went hungry or wondered where I would put my kids to bed. I choose between my varied and warm clothing in the morning and at least once a week I throw away food that went bad before we could eat it, buying fresh without even feeling a pang of decadence. I have never wanted for anything more than "more" of what I already have. I am... to most of the people in the world, obscenely wealthy... As are you.

What do I do? Take the Tricoteuses Sans Frontières / Knitters Without Borders Challenge. For one week...

1. Each and every time you think about buying something... ask yourself if it is a need (food, water, shelter, medicine or safety) or a want. Be honest. Yarn is not (sob) necessary. Lattes are not necessary. A seventh pair of shoes? Fabulous pair of new jeans? Eating out? Could you skip a haircut? Search yourself and ask, do I need this, or would the money be better spent on someone whose life hangs in the balance?

2. At the end of the week (or sooner...if you don't need that much time to think about it) Donate the amount of money that you didn't need to MSF. There should be no reason why every single person who reads this blog can't find at least a dollar. If you can afford to knit... you can afford to donate.

I have an aunt (who is a knitter) who turns 75 this week ... and that just seemed like the perfect opportunity to send $75 to MSF ... a dollar for every year.

1 comment:

I had the oppurtunity to meet Stephanie when she visited Austin a couple of years ago. My knitting/crocheting friend talked me into going to hear her speak. She is awesome! We had a great day that day and talk about it often!